Our world holds so many truths...
Looking at the different hazes of smoke whether you cleared it with the candle, feather or clock, proved to be something of a interest playing through. What I can tell everyone is...
SPOILER:
The only way to level 8 is to beat time (clock) with all the levels, and then rather than take the door the smoke points to, to dive into the dark. From there it's just a matter of heading left and up, only going right to speak to your mother's ghost and immediately taking the left path. Taking the path to the right will lead to your death.
ENDSPOILER
I like the take the game played through with each item but I must stress one point. If you ever make a game like this again, explain WHY some things will kill you. I can understand the smoke (I am not going to spoil this folks, check it yourself!) but the ravens were never explained.